Randy asked me to write my account of the marathon. While he was running those 26.2 miles, I was scrambling all over the Disney site trying to stay in front of him so I could be there at every possible point. No easy task with all of the roads blocked off for the marathon.
So the days before the marathon, Randy and I went around the parks and did what we felt like doing. I wanted to keep his mind off the marathon, but not run him into the ground gunning it through all the parks.
Even though we have not seen Wreck-It Ralph, Randy wanted to have his picture taken with the characters. I have to admit, Disney really makes standing in line an experience. While we were waiting, we were serenaded by the sweet, sweet sounds of 80's video game-inspired music. Like Pac Man Fever. Randy was pumped.
As you saw in Randy's blog post, we had our pictures taken with Ralph and Vanillope. This makes the Sarah Silverman Matt Damon song that much funnier. Warning: it's edited, but remember, it's Sarah Silverman.
I was trying to get my mind off the marathon as well. The betting pool at Randy's work where people were trying to guess which injury would keep him from finishing the marathon, my brother and my dad talking about how the first man to run a marathon died, the idea of pounding the pavement for 26.2 miles.... I was so nervous that Randy wouldn't be able to breathe with a cold, or twist his ankle and not finish the marathon. I mean, not finishing... it's not a huge deal. Sure we spent the money on the entrance fee, the flights, the park tickets... his parents and brother flew down, his aunt drove up from Miami, my parents were there... We wouldn't care if Randy didn't finish. We were already proud of him. We wouldn't remind him of how much money we spent to see him not finish, but Randy would remember. It would bother him until he completed that marathon. So it was in our best interest to keep us both moving and occupied.
Just in time for a little motivation, we got our pictures taken with my favorite characters, Phineas and Ferb! Carpe Diem! Don't quit! Let's build a roller coaster twice!
I like how I sort of match Phineas and Randy matches Ferb.
I'm going to skip over Saturday. You can read of Randy's account of that fiasco on the previous post. All I will say is that when you go to the parks with my dad, you have to be on your toes or you get yelled at. Really. He had us trained at a very young age the most efficient ways to go through the parks, which rides to go on when, which ones had short lines even on busy days, etc. I wasn't going down to Disney to witness one of Randy's biggest accomplishments and end up getting in a tiff with my dad. I will also say that I'm obviously not the one who said he couldn't have his pictures taken with the characters, and that he definitely wasn't thinking about the race as he learned to bob and weave through the crowds. That skill came in handy later!
So the morning of the race, we woke up extremely early and we knew what we were gonna do today. I knew there were a lot of people running in the marathon, but I didn't really grasp how many 25,000 people were (plus friends and families) until we got there.
I stood with Randy while he stretched. As each group was called, I was glad Randy was in the H corral so he could stand with me a little longer. As D&E were called, Randy decided he wanted to go get in his corral early. That's probably the last thing I would do, but it's Randy's marathon so I walked out to the main road where everyone was supposed to run by. I got to see the finish line, which was cool because it was way too crowded to get anywhere near it by the end of the race!
Families were lining the main road 5 or 6 people thick as far as I could see. I realized that I would be standing there for a while considering it was around 5 and Randy wasn't starting until 6:30. I didn't want to be fighting all those people to get to the next spot, so I walked over to Epcot, hopped a monorail, and staked a claim on a charming little spot around mile 3 where I could watch the sun come up and the runners go by.
For starting a marathon, people were pretty laid-back. There were runners cheering the spectators on, people running by slapping hands, and this guy ran by on his cell phone.
Disney really did an excellent job of having entertainment the entire 26.2 miles. My first stop had these people riding fancy old fashioned bikes.
The juxtaposition of the girl on her bike queen-waving to the runners made me laugh. I got bored, so I started posting Randy's progress on Facebook. Since no one else got up to watch the marathon with me, I knew someone in Facebook land would be awake at 6am on a Sunday morning.
As you can see, I had to sit there for a while before Randy came by. It's not because he was slow, it's because he started running an hour and a half after the first runners started, and then he had to run 3 miles before I saw him.
There's a guy running this thing in a full Mickey tuxedo suit
But he finally ran by. I ran along with him until the trail lead away from the barricades and snapped this quick picture. Then I turned on my heel, hopped back on the monorail and rode to the Magic Kingdom.
Randy just passed, he looks good and is in good spirits. Heading to the next stop.
The monorail was a little slow, so I hopped off and booked it to Main Street in the Magic Kingdom. Once again I ran along with Randy as much as I could until there were too many people in the way. My hurdling days are over.
Randy just finished mile 5
As Randy headed towards the castle, I hopped on the next monorail back to the Transportation and Ticket Center. The path goes along the Cast Member's parking lot on the other side of a tree-lined creek. Guess who stood there hidden in the trees at mile 9? Yeah, this girl. People probably thought I was weird, the girl in the trees. It was off the beaten path and everyone needed cheering, right? There was no one else there to slap hands or wave signs, so I stood there belting out affirmations until I saw Randy. Then I went wild. Randy looked shocked at first, then he saw me, smirked, and kept on truckin'.
Past mile 9!
Then I had a choice. I could go fight the crowds in the Animal Kingdom, I could find a bus to The ESPN Wide World of Sports. The buses going to those places looked crowded and I worried that by time I got there, Randy would be gone. I was also nervous about getting stranded at either of those locations since they were only reachable by bus (Disney transportation is awesome, but not always reliable in big crowds) and I wanted to stay mobile by foot. So I hopped a bus directly to Hollywood Studios.
Just got the update for mile 10! Will be a while until I see him again, he'll be kind of off the grid
My dad... always a class act.
See that shadow of the girl taking a picture? Yeah that's me!
Halfway done! That's what a half split means, right?
At this point, the parents and Aunt Barbara were awake, but they weren't out to the parks yet, so I had to ride Star Tours by myself. It didn't bother me until I boarded the ride. I won't give it away, but in each tour there is one rider who has their picture up on the screen, and everyone in their group points and laughs. This one time I rode by myself, my picture was up on the screen and no knew me so no one laughed. Oh sad, sad Jodi.
Then the worst thing happened. I didn't get an update for a while from Run Disney. I started to get worried. I never doubted that Randy wouldn't finish, but by now it was hot. It was really hot. I was starting to get sunburnt and I knew Randy didn't do well in the heat.
Dun dun dunnnnnnnnnn........ to be continued...
Just kidding, I couldn't fit it all in one post
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